Paw was one of my favorite bands in high school. Specifically 1993's Dragline, their debut LP, which blends Nirvana-ish grunge with lush acoustic sections and Southern tinged storytelling lyrics. They followed it up with 1995's Death To Traitors, which disappointed me a bit, but still had some solid songs. They went on to put out a strong rarities disc and a final EP before calling it quits in 2000. Some people might remember them for the song "Jessie" ("you're a good dog, such a good dog"), which was a modest hit for them in '93, but apart from a small faction of diehard fans, they've pretty much been forgotten. One current band that brings to mind their sound is Lucero. The heart of Paw was the partnership of singer Mark Hennessy and guitarist Grant Fitch. Mark's been messing around in a new band called The Diamond Heart Club, while Grant recently started up a project called New Franklin Panthers.

Anyways, the "holy grail" to me and most other Paw fans (short of a reunion) has always been the fabled "Death To Traitors demos," a 90-minute tape of sessions for their second album said to contain several songs unavailable anywhere else. After many years, I got a tip on someone who probably had them. Long story short, a good deal of googling and emailing later, I finally got a copy. (thanks again, MW, for coming through! and thanks to Joseph Larkin for the initial tip.)

I'm happy to offer the recording here. It's 192k mp3s. (I believe it can also be found in flac on DimeaDozen, for those who prefer lossless.) If you're not into Paw but want to give a curious listen, I'd recommend tracks 2, 8, and 14. And if you like those, come back for the rest. (and don't forget to track down a copy of Dragline, which most fans agree represents their best work.)

UPDATE (July 2007): Just got this informative email:

hi,my name is john. my boss made me a copy of the demos for death to traitors, because i didn't have one. i played bass on all tracks. wanna clear up a couple things...the session took place in fall '94, not early '95. i joined the band right after the final dragline tour in summer '94. these demos were recorded almost completely live (save for the random vocal or guitar overdub) by e.j. rose at red house studios in lawrence. i recorded part of the "death..." record with the band, 5 songs, they used my tracks on 4, before i quit the session and left (credited as additional bass john licardello). lotsa tension regarding songwriting splits.. i was brought in by grant to play bass and help with writing and arranging. i wrote all the music for sweet sally brown and year of the locust, both of which were already written for my old band hoarse, who released both of these tracks on our debut on rca in '97, as 'happens twice' (ssb) and '72' (yotl).